Design and implementation of a novel 6-DOF planar maglev positioning system

This paper proposes a novel design of a single-deck and six degree-of-freedom (DOF) planar maglev positioning system. The proposed design does not depend on the conventional linear slideways, instead, the design consists of an array of fixed solenoid electromagnets and a permanent magnet carrier stage. The basic idea is to come up with a solenoid excitation that can create a restoring force to position and to move the magnet carrier. This research uses the ANSOFT finite element analysis (FEA) software to analyze the effects of forces between solenoids and magnets, and builds a prototype model for experimental verification.